


The Last Thing You Should Do

by DreamLogic



Category: Orphan Black (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Espionage, F/F, spy AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-04
Updated: 2014-09-09
Packaged: 2018-02-11 18:40:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2078904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamLogic/pseuds/DreamLogic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Soccer Cop Spy AU: After meeting while on similar missions Beth and Alison have to work together with their teams to reach their goals</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> maria aka tinytmas over on tumblr wanted this written so here we go. 
> 
> Not much actual soccer cop in this, this is just setting the whole thing up a bit.

Sometimes Beth really liked her job. When it was her and her team working together against some bad guy or another, she really felt like she was doing something worthwhile. Then there were times like this:

 

The intel had been sound as far as they could tell, it was supposed to be simple. In. Out. Take out the bad guys. Get what they needed. Easy.

 

Not so Easy as it turns out.

 

Nothing and no one was where it was supposed to be. Everything that had gone wrong could go wrong and now there Beth was hiding in a janitor’s closest, waiting for Sarah to come and back her up, if they’d even realised that she needed the help. It’s not like she could really signal for help in her current position. 

 

She was never going to be able to live this down.

 

“Beth?” Cosima’s tinny sounded in her ear. Comms were down, weren’t they? How does she have comms? “Childs, are you there?”

 

“I’m here” She replied.

 

“Okay your support’s on the way”

 

“It’s about time, Niehaus. Do you know how long I’ve been stuck here?”

 

“Okay, calm it Childs, you only have to hold on for another couple of minutes.”

 

“We both know another couple of minutes might be too long.”

 

“Has Manning not made contact with you yet?”

 

“What? No. I haven’t heard from her since we lost comms.” This was not good. But at least help was on the way.

 

“Dude, we’re going to have to call for more backup if she doesn’t get there soon”

_Okay so Sarah was missing. Great. Really reassuring._

 

“Just, give her a bit more time.”

 

Beth’s attention was pulled away from the voice in her ear by the sound of shouting outside of her hiding spot. This was bad. This was really bad.

 

She held her breath as the noise died down, the door in front of her cracking open. “Oi Childs, you in here?” She exhaled as the familiar voice washed over her.

 

“I’m here” She called back, still hesitant as she crawled out from her hiding spot. “Took you long enough.”

 

“Well I’m here now, so let’s get a move on, yeah?”

 

Beth nodded her assent as she followed Sarah from the room. The sooner they got out of there the better. She stopped as she felt her foot hit something solid, looking down she saw her foot hitting what appeared to be a person.

 

“Really?” She asked Sarah, to which she only shrugged. “Do we need to clean this up?”

 

“Nah. Neither of these ones saw me, and anyway, we we’re told not to kill.”

 

“You mean these aren’t dead.” The two men on the floor didn’t look alive, but if Sarah says they’re alive she knows she can trust her.  


“Shoot first, ask questions later is more your style, Childs.” Sarah teased as she led the way quickly out of the building towards the tech van. “Civilians, working for a private security company are not the bad guys, remember?”

 

“For all we know they could be in on it.” Beth said as she pulled the door to the back of the van open. “It’s not like our intel was worth a damn.”

 

“Well that’s your own bloody fault, Childs.” Sarah said as she climbed into the van, where their tech team was waiting, pulling the door closed behind her and sitting as the driver pulled away. “You’re the one that decided to trust Dierden.”

 

Beth shook her head, she couldn’t trust him as far as she could throw him “He took a polygraph. It should have been sound.”

 

“But it wasn’t”

 

“So something must have changed. We just have to figure out what.”

 

“Or he was lying to us.”

 

“What part of lie detector do you not understand?”

 

“Well yeah.” Cosima interjected from her seat on the other side of the van. “But it’s not impossible to beat those, technically I mean.” She said as she took the ear pieces from the each woman. “Difficult, yes. Impossible, no. I mean people have found ways to trick them since their invention, and heart rate, yes while normally a good tell, can be easy to manipulate and… “

 

“We get it, Cos.” Sarah cut her off.

 

“Right. You’re right. We can figure it out later.”

 

 Beth nodded, she could beat herself up later. “For now we just need to get out of here.”

 

* * *

 

 

Maybe after what was generally considered a disaster of a mission Beth should have just gone home and tried to sleep. Everything would be better in the morning. She could look at every detail with a clear head and try to see where it had all gone wrong.  Unfortunately for her sleep didn’t seem to be on the cards.

 

As soon as they had returned to base Beth had made her way to the gym. Finding the room completely deserted she made her way over to one of the treadmills, hoping that the steady rhythm would help distract her. It wasn’t as good as when she could actually run outside, but it was something; and it would have to do. 

 

Even if their intel had been wrong she shouldn’t have had to resort to hiding, injuring civilians.  She was supposed to be in and out and now they’d have to start all over again.

 

“Oi, Childs!” Sarah’s voice pulled Beth from her reverie, “You even try to sleep?” Beth shook her head as she slowed to a stop, taking the water bottle offered to her as she stepped off the treadmill. “You know you’re not going to be any good to us if you collapse.” Sarah added with a frown.

 

“I’m fine.” She shrugged. And she was, really, she just needed to get a jump on this so they wouldn’t make the same mistake again when the consequences would be more serious. The last thing they needed was for any of them to get hurt. “I just don’t understand how you can be so calm about this. I mean I fucked up Sarah. We could have gotten hurt because of me.”

 

“But we didn’t.” Sarah huffed. “You can’t, you can’t think like that, yeah?”

 

Beth scoffed.

 

“No. No, I’m serious, Childs. Even if we did get hurt, that wouldn’t have been your fault. You understand that, yeah?”

 

Beth raised her eyes to Sarah’s, smiling at the earnest expression she found. “You going soft on me, Manning?” Beth teased after a couple of moments.

 

“Fuck off, Childs. We were having a moment there.”

 

“If you say so.”

 

-

 

Beth hated to admit that Sarah was right but sleeping actually did help her clear her head.

 

“What we got?” She asked, peering at the screen Cosima was currently working at. “Anything good?”

 

“No just going over the polygraph results with the video from the interview room. See if there’s anything we missed.” It was impossible to miss the concern on Cosima’s face.

 

“Sarah spoke to you then?”

 

“I don’t know what you mean, Childs” Sarah said as she came to rest beside them. “It’s all our heads if we can’t figure this thing out.”

 

“If you says so.”

 

“If you happen to pull your head out your own arse, well…”

 

“Hey.” Beth said, shoving Sarah slightly, smiling as she felt some of the weight she’d been feeling lift from her shoulders. She had her team, they’d figure it out together. They always did.

 

-

 

It was never fun to be wrung out by your boss. Even less so when your boss happened to be your friend. Suffice to say Beth never enjoyed it when Art disappeared and Agent Bell took his place.

 

“What the hell happened last night?” He shouted as he paced the small area in front of her.

 

“It was time sensitive information. We had to act.”

 

“And how did that work out for you, Childs!”  Art continued, concern colouring his voiced as he came to a stop in “You ever stop to consider what could have happened if you’d run into more than a couple of security guards? Unarmed security guards at that. It could have been worse. A lot worse.”

 

“You think I don’t know that?”

 

Silence fell between the two of them as Art inhaled deeply, averting his eyes. “I’m serious. Think before you act, Beth. You’re going to get yourself hurt one of these days.”

 

Beth bit back a smile as she let his concern wash over her. “Aww Art, you were worried.”

 

“Careful, Childs. I’m still your boss.” He retorted, his voice more teasing than an actual warning. “Well then what you still doing here? Get back to work.”

 

* * *

 

 

Going over the results of the polygraph had been a bust, but going over the other information that he had given them was seemingly bearing fruits.

 

“Okay. So yes, say Dierden was lying to us? We can’t change that. We move on. Now what.”

 

“Well, I’ve been going over some of the data, other info, general possessions that he’d given to us or we’d requisitioned and I think I’ve got something.” Cosima said, gesturing to several pieces of paper on the surface in front of her. “He had an invitation in his pocket. Our guy when we bought him in. It’s to some fancy party or something, but that’s completely beyond the point, the point is now we have a way into the inner sanctum.”

 

“Jeez, Cos” Sarah scoffed “’inner sanctum’? Really?”

 

“Would you prefer evil lair?”

 

Beth reached forward reading the information on the invite. “Guys this is a no go, or did you miss that there’s a name on this thing.”

 

“Force him to cooperate. Cut him a deal. Whatever.” Cosima waved her hand dismissively. “He's still being held here, right?”

 

She had a point. Despite any issues she had with the plan it was a way in and they really needed that, even if it was a way too much effort for what it was worth to hide a weapon in a ball gown.

 

Looks like she was going to a party. 

 

“Bring him up.”

 

   

* * *

 

 

 

Sitting in the interrogation room wasn’t really how Beth liked to spend her days, the grey walls sucking the life out of everything inside.

 

“So Paul.” Beth said as she threw papers down on the table, taking a seat opposite him. “You lied to me.”

 

“I didn’t…”

 

“Cut the bullshit, Dierden.” She cut off his protest. “Or are really stupid enough to lie to me again?”

 

She pulled the invitation out of the pile of papers in front of her and slid it to him across the table. “Tell me about this.”

 

Paul picked the paper off the table as he looked at it more closely, “It appears to be an invitation.” Beth wanted to smash the smirk off of his face. “But you already knew that.”

 

“Tell me about it.” Beth bit out, her patience wearing thin. “You’re in our custardy, Paul.” She said leaning forward. “You’ve already given us more than you should have, when they find out you really think you’ll be welcomed back to the fold?” She matched his smirk with her own as her words seemed to compute. “You help us here and you have our protection when this whole thing blows up. Now what’s it going to be?”

 

She watched in silence as he considered the offer, feeling triumph run through her as he leant towards her.

 

“I’m not exactly sure what’s going down, but the party’s a cover. Two birds one stone, keeps the associates happy, makes them feel appreciated and makes sure they’re distracted.”

 

“When you say associates you mean?”

 

Paul shrugged “You think they tell us anything?” No, and she was starting to see that. She shook her head as she stood up and moved away from the table. At least they had a way in.

 

* * *

 

 

“You know this could all be a trap.” Sarah’s voice sounded in Beth’s ear as she made her way towards the party. And she wasn’t wrong. In fact the whole thing screamed trap. A party at the house of a known (allegedly) criminal. A convenient invitation in the pocket of an all too willing informant. An informant who had given them worthless information that could have led to the getting hurt at that.

 

Even if they did have Paul’s full cooperation Beth didn’t like the odds. But that had never stopped her before.

 

Looking at the grandiose entry way to the house (mansion) she was feeling way out of her depth.  The room was filled with to the brim with people and she didn’t know whether it was a blessing or a curse that she didn’t recognise any of them. At least it meant the chances of her cover being blown were minimal. Well, hopefully.

 

“Okay, we’re in.”

 

“We got visuals.” Cosima confirmed in response. She hadn’t even been aware that that was a possibility.

 

“Where are our eyes?”

 

“You didn’t just think I gave you that broach for kicks?”

 

Sarah was around somewhere, somehow having managing to wrangle a serving job, not wanting Beth to go in alone after their last disastrous attempt. “Nice dress, Childs.” Sarah’s voice sounded in her ear.

 

Beth scanned the crowd, looking for Sarah. Catching her eye Beth smirked, “At least I’m not wearing that uniform, what is that? Polyester?”

 

“Yeah, yeah. You’ve made your point.”

 

“You know people are going to look at you if you keep talking to yourself.” Paul said from beside her.

 

“Well that’s why you’re here.” Beth frowned as she turned towards him as they weaved their way through the growing crowd.  “So it looks like I’m talking to you.”

“Oh right, nice to know I’m good for something.” Paul grumbled.

 

As they moved further into the party, Beth took time to scrutinise her surroundings. “There’s nothing on the main floor.”

 

“Then hurry up and find a way to search the rest so I can get out of this uniform, yeah?” Sarah chimed in.

 

“I’m working on it.”  Beth scanned the room for any other exits, trying to gauge the most suitable choice. “Okay.” She said turning the Paul. “You. Stay here. Mingle. I’m going to look around.” She grabbed his arm when he didn’t reply. “Do you think you can handle that?”

 

He looked at her with contempt. “I can handle it.” He replied as he shrugged off her arm.

 

“Try not to blow our cover.” She said over her shoulder as she slunk away into the crowd.

 

The second floor of the house was less ostentatious than the rooms where the guests had congregated and Beth couldn’t help but wonder whether they’d had them specially decorated for the party. She weaved her way down corridors, opening doors as she went trying to find some semblance of an office, she’d settle for anything of interest at this point, if only to prove that the trip into the lion’s den was worth it.

 

Of course it was the last door of the last corridor that was locked. Leaning down she examined the lock, not exactly high security, although they probably didn’t think that they’d need reinforced secure locks in their own home.

 

She made light work of the lock, and hurried into the room, shutting the door firmly behind her.

 

“Oh thank heavens.”

 

A voice in the darkened room startled her.

 

“Took them long enough to send someone.”

 

Beth fumbled for the light switch, eyes searching for the source of the voice in the dark room, finding a woman tied to the chair.

 

There was a woman tied to the chair. Why was there a woman tied to the chair?

 

“Well then, get on with it.”

 

Beth took two steps forward, before stopping short.  “I can’t cut you free. How do I know you won’t attack me?”

 

The woman stared at her, a look of incredulity painting her face before dropping her face to her chest. “You’re not my back up, are you?” Beth shook her head. “Then how do I know you’re not going to attack me?”

 

“I’m not going to attack you.”

 

“But you’re not going to let me go either.”

 

“I didn’t say that.” Beth said as she searched for some way to cut her free of her bindings, cursing her decision to leave her knife behind. “Wait?” She stopped her search as her words washed over her, “did you say back up. You police?” That’s just what she needed, the local cops asking too many questions.

 

“No.” She said with a short shake of her head as Beth felt her hand finally find something that could help her set her free. “Even if I was why should I tell you.”

 

“Well for a start I’m not the one tied to a chair.”

 

She inhaled deeply before looking straight at Beth. “Fine.” She huffed. “My credentials are on the desk.”

 

Beth took a step back towards the desk behind her, her eyes falling the small picture of the woman. She worked for the bureau. Just her luck, this was going to be more trouble than the cops, they’d never keep their noses out of it.

 

“Well then… Agent Hendrix.” Beth stared as she resumed her attempts to set her free. “ Let’s get you out of here and then you’re coming with me.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Are you going to untie me or not?”

 

Beth looked Alison over, checking for any signs of immediate distress. “I think you can wait a couple more minutes.” Beth walked over to the desk where she had found her identification, looking for the first time for what she’d actually come for. Scanning the papers in front of her quickly, “Cos,” She said as she unmuted her comms, “there’s barely anything here.” 

 

“Well angle it towards the camera so Scott and I can take a look at them.”

 

“Camera?”

 

“The broach, Beth. I already told you this.”

 

She unpinned it from its place “How do I do this?”

 

“Just scan it slowly over the papers. I’ll take it from there.” Beth moved the broach over the papers before her, trusting the Cosima was doing what she had said. “Okay, I’m good. What about the computer?”

 

“There’s no computer.”

 

“What do you mean? There’s always a computer, what kind of office doesn’t have a computer”

 

“Well there isn’t.”

 

“It’s over there.” Agent Hendrix huffed from behind her. 

 

“What?” Beth raised her eyebrow in question. 

 

 Alison made no response but to nod to the other side of the room with her head, Beth followed the gesture before walking over to it. “You know it’s rude to eavesdrop.” Beth said as she set about the computer.

 

“Well, I would like to get out of here today and you didn’t seem to be getting there any time soon.”

 

“You know you’re still tied to the chair?

 

“An astute observation.”

 

“I meant that I could still leave you here.”

 

“You won’t” _Well she’s not wrong_ , it would be too great a risk to leave her; and anyway she could be a valuable asset, or a dangerous liability.

 

“How do you know for sure? You really want to risk it?” The smug grin that Beth received in response was enough to tell her that she knew that there was no way she was leaving the room without her.

 

* * *

 

 

Cutting Alison free was easy, what was not easy was keeping track of her once they re-joined the main party. In the relative emptiness of the upper-corridors it was easy to keep her in sight, but the amount of people filling the ballroom had doubled since she’d made her way from it and Agent Hendrix easily made a break for it, Beth losing visual contact before she had even noticed she was slipping away.

 

“Hey, Cosima where’s the woman I was with gone, I can’t see her.”

 

“Beth? What? What woman?”

 

“The one I was just with. Brown hair, short. You were watching, right?”

 

“Well with that description how could I possibly miss her?” Beth could practically heat Cosima rolling her eyes. “Seriously, Childs. Anything more specific to go on?”

 

“Niehaus, we need to find her! She works for another agency, an agency we don’t need poking around in an open case.”

 

“Well it’s not my fault you lost her.”

 

“We are going to be in so much trouble.”

 

“Not unless Art finds out.”

 

“Hey.” Sarah’s voice cut through their bickering. “Pink dress? Sequins?”

 

“Yeah, why?”

 

“Because she’s heading for the main exit.”

 

“Shit.” Beth started forwards, weaving her way through the crowd towards the main exit. “Can you intercept her?”

 

“Do you want me to blow my cover, Childs.”

 

“Do you want to help me, Manning? Offer her an entrée or something, slow her down.”

 

She could see Sarah moving towards Agent Hendrix, brandishing a tray of food in front of her only to be waved off without so much as a glance by her.

 

“Well I tried.” Sarah said as she saw Beth pass by her shoulder, still intent on following their mark.

 

“You call that trying?”

 

“What was I supposed to do? Grab her?”

 

Beth muted her comms as Sarah continued to grumble in her ear, fighting her way through the more densely populated foyer, trying to reach the main doors before Alison disappeared completely. She would never hear the end of it from Art if she let an agent from another agency get away from her. Who knows what she knew, what she was even doing there. This could compromise their entire operation.

 

In short she was screwed.

 

Fighting her way out of the front entrance she fought to establish a visual. “Shit.” Beth exhaled her chin slumping to her chest as she admitted the inevitable. “She’s gone.” She said as she clicked her comms back on.

 

“Ah crap. Art’s going to be pissed."

Cosima moaned.

"Only if we tall him." Beth said, already trying to figure out how to hide the encounter from him. “I got some stuff from the office, we’ll have to wait and see if we can use any of it. but it should be enough to stop him from digging “

 

“You might as well head back inside then. See if Dierden found anything.” Beth’d forgotten that Paul was there.

 

“Please tell me you kept track of him.” Last thing she needed was him missing as well. As much as he irritated her he was still an important asset. For now.

 

**“** Yeah we still got eyes on him on the main floor.”

 

Beth took a deep breath, surveying her surroundings one last time, searching in vain for any sign of the missing Hendrix before turning back towards the house. There was no need for the night to be a total waste. Hendrix would have been an extra, that’s all.

_Get your head back in the game, Childs._

 

 

_

 

“So the trip wasn’t a complete loss after all.” Cosima began as they sat down to the team meeting, “I’ve been going over some of the data that Beth found in the office and I mean, It’ll need further analysis before we have anything concrete but I think there is some stuff we can use. The only question is…”

 

“Did Agent Hendrix het her hands on it too?” Beth finished for her from her position on the other side of the room, leant against the wall.

 

“Precisely.” Cosima said with a nod. “And what it means for the operation if she did.”

 

“What was she doing there, anyway?” Sarah asked.

 

Beth shook her head “I don’t know.” She exhaled deeply. “But whatever she was doing probably isn’t good news for us.”

 

“Do we know anything?”

 

“What about Dierden? He was schmoosing some old guy.”

 

“Yeah where is Paul?” Sarah interjected.

 

“Please tell me we know where he is.” Beth frowned, they were going to have a lot to explain to Art without having lost their number one informant. “Please tell me you at least debriefed him”

 

“Of course, we’re not that stupid.” Cosima waved her and Sarah off. “We’ll bring him in again in the morning. He could use some sleep. We all could.”

 

As they left the office, Beth tried to push thoughts of the evening from her mind, she needed to focus on what they had; she should push her encounter with Hendrix from her mind, but she couldn’t shake the feeling deep in her gut that she’d be seeing her again, and she couldn’t decide how she felt about that.

 

* * *

 

They assembled early the next morning. Beth trudged into the briefing room, feeling the lack of sleep beginning to catch up to her, she suspected that she’d probably had the same amount as the rest of the team as all of them looked just as exhausted as she felt. Thank god there was coffee.

 

She poured herself a cup, black, before walking to sit next to Sarah who was dozing in a chair towards the edge of the room, nudging her awake as Art stormed into the room, brandishing his own coffee as he went

 

“’Doctor’ Aldous Leekie.”  Art said without preamble as he pointed to the picture Cosima had brought up on her tablet, projecting it on the large screen mounted on the wall behind him. “He’s been on our radar for a while now, with suspected ties to dyad as well as other organized crime families.” He moved to stand off to the side, leaning against the wall as he reached it. “But we’d never had anything concrete to tie him to it.”

 

“Until last night.” Cosima, filled in as she brought up some of the footage that Beth’s camera had captured, “as you can see here, “ she said as she circled one of the figures on the screen “The old guy Paul was talking to…”

 

“Leekie?” Sarah supplied.

 

“Bingo.” Cosima turned her attention back to the tablet, as well as that, some of the papers Beth found implicate him further…”

 

“But it’s not enough.” Art said, bringing their attention back to him. “There’s a benefit next week. A fancy gala of some sort for some charity or another, it doesn’t matter. Beth,” He said pointing towards her, “As you’ve already laid the ground work to establish cover as Dierden’s… partner, you’ll be going back in to cement it,  giving us an in in the future.”

 

“And Dierden agreed to this?”

 

“His immunity is contingent on his continued cooperation.”

 

Beth nodded silently, resigning herself to the inevitable, there was no way Paul would refuse if it meant jail time; it didn’t mean she liked the fact that she’d be repeatedly walking into be walking straight into the lion’s den.

 

* * *

 

 

Establishing cover as Paul’s girlfriend had been remarkably easy, and with the amount of access it afforded her to both the members of the organisation, and their operation, Beth had to admit that it wasn’t the worst idea ever. The misogynistic douche-hats running the show didn’t even bat an eye at her presence at their meetings anymore, she couldn’t believe how idiotic they were. Did they really think that letting some virtual stranger listen into their plans? It was a wonder that they all weren’t in jail, their planning was just as lax as their security.

 

Another function in her role as ‘Paul’s girl”, thankfully informal this time, there were only so many ball gowns a girl can own before it becomes excessive, and if Beth didn’t know any better it would seem to be a normal potluck barbeque. There were even children running around.

 

Lying was an inherent part of the job of a field operative, she’d known that when she’d signed up to the agency, but answering the same four questions about her bogus job as an elementary school and trying to seem convincingly flustered when talking about her relationship with Paul her patience for the whole thing was wearing thin. They had more than enough to take a large proportion of dyad down and she didn’t understand why Art hadn’t given the kill order.

 

She’d managed to escape the perpetual interrogation as she made a beeline towards the food table. “Bethy!” Or maybe not.

 

Charity, the most vocal of the group of wives and girlfriends was walking towards her as Beth tried to wave her off, still heading towards the food and drink. She deserved a drink for not killing anyone, she thought. Her gaze snapped back towards Charity as she took in the woman flanking her. At first glance she’d been easy to overlook, blending in seamlessly with the group of women around her. 

 

Agent Alison Hendrix.

_What the hell was she doing there?_

“Bethy,“  Charity said in a cloying tone, gesturing towards Alison  “This is Jilly she’s Donnie’s new girlfriend.”

 

Beth pulled what she hoped was an enthusiastic smile into place, “So you’re the new girl we’ve been hearing so much about.” She said in an overly-cheery tone.

 

“I guess so.” Alison replied, matching Beth’s smile.

 

They lapsed into awkward silence, Beth having to physically restrain herself from dragging her away, itching to know just how she could be there. Again.

 

It had been moth’s since she’d seen her, since the night of the party, and Beth’d been starting to think that she’d never see her again; that it was a one-time thing. Apparently not.

 

“Jilly’s a teacher too.” Charity filled the silence. “Third grade.”

 

“Really? No way! I teach fifth.” Beth supplied, the lie coming easily.

 

“Well,” Charity said. “I can see you ladies have lot’s to talk about,” _She had no idea._ “I’ll leave you two to…bond.”

 

Beth watched her retreat, making sure she was out of earshot before she turned back to Alison. “What are you doing here?” Alison asked smile fixed in place.

 

“Same thing you are, I guess.” Beth said with a shrug, fighting to keeping her tone cordial, this was the second time she’d shown up on an op and Beth had a sinking feeling it wasn’t a coincidence “Drink, Jilly? While we _talk_ ”. She didn’t wait for an answer before she stalked over to the bar, not looking to see if Alison had followed her until she reached her goal, foregoing the beer and wine on the table for the bourbon she spied behind it. _What kind of barbeque has a fully stocked bar?_  

 

_This should be interesting._

Drink in hand Beth searched the yard for somewhere with some semblance of privacy. Spotting a couple of unoccupied chairs she looped her arm through Alison’s, forcing her to follow her and into the seat beside her. “So, talk.”

 

“Do you really think this is the best place to do this?” Alison bit out, leaning in closer.

 

“Of course it is. Can’t think of a better place” _you’re just going to run if I let you out of my sight. “_ So talk.”

 

“I’m on mission.”

 

Way to state the obvious. “Yeah I got that. But what are you doing _here_ ”

 

“It’s classified.”

 

“Don’t pull that shit with me, Hendrix.”

 

“I’m not pulling anything. I can’t tell you without permission.” Alison glared. “You don’t have the clearance.”

 

“I have clearance.” Beth scoffed. “Now tell me.”

 

“You don’t for this, trust me.” Alison insisted, catching Beth’s eye as she leant in even closer. “So stop acting like such a child.”

 

“Make me.” Beth maintained the eye contact, unwilling to back down in the battle of wills. _She has pretty eyes._ Beth shook her head, breath caught in her throat as she shook off the thought; when she looked back towards Alison her lips had curled upwards in a triumphant grin.

 

“It really was nice meeting you, Bethy.” Alison said with enough volume that the people nearest to them could hear. “It’s a shame you have to duck out so early.”

 

“You’re leaving, Bethy?” Charity’s voice ringing clear between them.

 

“She is,” Alison started before Beth could formulate a reply, “She was just telling me about all the homework she needs to grade and how she really should get home to start on it.”

 

“I’m sure I could be persuaded to stay for a while longer.”

 

“Nonsense, you can’t neglect your work now can you? And it takes so much time.” Charity was nodding along with Alison’s conjecture with a disapproving frown thrown in Beth’s direction and she could see that this one was a lost cause.

_Fuck, she was good._


End file.
